Tech is baseball has turned into an after thought. Look how registered users on this board participate on the baseball thread. Danny Hall has been at Tech just long enough to where he is hurting the program he help sustain when coach Morris left. Either he is not developing his players like he used to or he is not getting the same level of talent any more. Which ever the case, the results suck. I have quit giving him a pass because he seems to own the ACC tourney. What good is it if you can't do anything else. This is a program that used to host regionals and super regionals with a legit chance of going to CWS. Now we are a middle of the pack ACC team scratching to get into the ACC tourney. What is it, 5 years now we have been down. When does it end? Is Tech baseball as we knew it gone forever. Has the UVA's and UNC's of the conf passed us and left us behind? One more thing, the arse kicking Tech took in coral gables is pathetic and should never happen. Hell the Marlins fired their coach today after the Braves beat them and they are only five games out of first. How long does Danny get to turn this around. By the way Clemson fans fell like we do right now. They are screaming for Jack Legget to hit the road. Nuke I couldn't keep quiet any longer sorry.
Don't expect me to defend our overall performance this year. I trace it mostly to lack of pitching. What we hit in Miami and Louisville earlier in the season were teams which were elite and we are only good overall. So they kicked our butts.
I think the lack of pitching was caused by the draft last year (including Heddinger leaving), and not having depth. Over the last few years, our pitching has been much better and we've gotten a lot of people drafted. But even with the "normal" level of GT pitching, we won't compete with the elite teams.
A question could be, "What is the purpose of GT baseball?". For football we know. It represents a core identity and a strong source of impetus for alumni donations (probably most important). For basketball, we have lost our way and that's another discussion. But baseball?
Baseball has never been a fan favorite at GT. When I went in the late 70's we were very good and no one that I knew in the student body cared. And I don't think there is any correlation to alumni giving; any more than say the tennis team or golf team or triathlon (one of the best) team. So if it isn't money or student involvement, what is the purpose?
I think the purpose has become developing kids who decide to come to GT and giving them the best chance to get drafted as possible. All the while they do good in school and graduate. That is what Hall has built and is consistent with what the administration wants. If I were Bobinski, I wouldn't fire Hall based on what little I know. There probably just isn't enough emotion from the donors to warrant action. Bobinski is going to get fired over a football or basketball problem.
I think the biggest "problem" with our team is the lack of out of state players. Only a few are from out of state. Maybe that is recruiting budget or maybe personality of the baseball recruiting team or maybe just nationwide competition (there are about 300 college baseball teams). If we want to compete with elite teams, we need to get more elite from top to bottom. There are a bunch of good baseball programs in Georgia which we compete with and many kids don't want to put up with having to do the classwork at GT. And we have to keep them after the damn draft. We consistently lose our top prospects (Kel excepted) to the draft.
As Bill Clinton said, "I feel your pain." But I don't have an answer. And I have to question why it matters, since I don't see things changing appreciably any time soon either.
But I always root for the kids who come to GT and play for us, just as I know you do. Nothing in this response means I don't think you don't support the kids who play for GT. We all want more wins and runs at the NCAAs.